Araneus Alea II

True Random Number Generator

The Alea II is a compact true random number generator (TRNG),
also known as a hardware random number generator (HWRNG),
non-deterministic random bit generator (NRBG), or
entropy source, with a USB interface.

The Alea II is based on the proven technology
of our Alea I TRNG and is fully compatible
with existing Alea I drivers and applications.
By using smaller surface-mount components, we have been able to fit the same functionality in a
smaller package, add a bi-color status LED, and reduce the cost.

The Alea II is designed for demanding cryptographic applications
such as key generation, DSA signature generation,
cryptographic nonces, and one time pads. It can also be used in a
number of other applications such as lotteries, games, Monte Carlo
simulations, and random sampling for scientific studies.

Quality

The Alea II provides a stream of high quality random
bits that passes a number of stringent statistical tests
including the
Diehard
and NIST STS
test suites. We also test the output of every Alea II
for uniqueness using the Known Number Oracle.

You can download random data produced by an Alea II TRNG
here,
for example to run your own statistical tests.

Convenience

The Alea II plugs directly into, and is powered by, the USB port —
no cable or external power supply is needed.

Compatibility

The Alea II comes with driver support for Microsoft Windows XP,
Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10, and an
ActiveX control that enables access to the device through COM.
It can also be used with any operating system that supports
generic user-space USB access, for example through the libusb library.
Example code is provided for libusb-based access on Linux and
NetBSD, and the Alea II has also been successfully
used with other systems such as FreeBSD and MacOS X.
The USB protocol of the Alea II is fully open and documented,
allowing users to write their own drivers if desired.

How it Works

The Alea II uses a reverse biased semiconductor junction
to generate wide-band Gaussian white noise.
This noise is amplified and digitized
using an analog-to-digital converter. The raw output bits from the
A/D converter are then further processed by an embedded microprocessor
to combine the entropy from multiple samples into each final output
bit, resulting in a random bit stream that is practically free
from bias and correlation.